A cynics guide to Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura
Created | Updated Aug 1, 2002
ITP is a little-understood (Idiopathic1) disease of the blood involving a severely reduced platelet count (Thrombocytopenia). It
affects roughly one in 10,000 people at some time in their life.
It should be of particular
interest to anyone who has come into contact with recent
British government Meningitis propaganda, since the
initial indications can include bruises or a Septicemia-like rash
(Purpura) that
fails the glass tumbler test2, and
in children it is most common amongst a similar 4-6 age group.
Although a lack of platelets is not directly
life-threatening, the risk of spontaneous internal
haemorrhage is, so your urge to
rush your child to the doctor upon finding such a rash
should be undiminished3.
Diagnosis is made by a simple blood test, typically
showing no abnormalities other than the low
platelet count (less than 100,000 per
mm3 is low). A bone marrow sample rules out other
causes of similar symptoms, such as certain
forms of Leukaemia.
Patients who suffer or have suffered from ITP are divided into two
categories; acute (recovered within six
months)
and chronic (didn't, and likely never will). In the 90%
of children who get the acute form, the disease will often
follow a viral illness of some kind, and
spontaneously heal with no intervention. If the
platelet count is very low at the onset of the disease
(less than 40,000 per
mm3), injections of globulin or a
course of steroids may be given to block the action of the
inferred4 platelet-killing antibodies5. Treatment for
the chronic form, more common in adults, may include a
splenectomy6, but even this drastic
action has only a 70% chance of curing the problem.
Further (less jaded) reading
- Concise description of ITP from drkoop.com's Medical Encyclopedia, with cross-referencing of technical terms and descriptions of procedures.
- More detailed information on ITP in children
and ITP in adults from the US ITP Society - Description of ITP at NIDDK, one of the US National Institutes of Health.
Other BBC Links
- Story arc about ITP in Poboly Cwm, a Welsh-language soap opera.
- Report of claimed link between the MMR vaccine and ITP
speak for "We don't have a clue why this happens". Doctors who dislike admitting this even in Greek claim the "I" stands for "Immune". Besides, the word "immune" is fashonable in disease names right now.
2British government propaganda: "People with a rash that doesn't fade to white when pressed on with a glass tumbler have Meningitis and will die in a matter of hours without hospital grade antibiotics". Well, unless they have ITP, that is.3People who don't have Meningitis but still have a rash that etc. etc. have ITP and will die in a matter of hours if they trip over and bang their heads. Unless they have something else, that is.4Remember, "We don't have a clue why this
happens"5Ah, the "immune" bit, for those claiming they do.6
Removal of the spleen, the only organ standing between
you and every other bug you might ever catch.
"We don't have a clue why this happens", so cut first and
ask questions later. Removal of a key component of the immune system is of course particularly attractive when touting the alternate version of the disease name.
